B&H now offers free shipping to Canada... sort of.

[CharlieWorton]

B&H sells a ton of musical instruments, and now offers free shipping to Canada on most items over $99. However, virtually the entire musical instrument spectrum is marked as 'can't ship to Canada'. Casio, Yamaha, Korg... I don't think B&H would sell you so much as a harmonica.

Well, that was a huge nothing burger.

>Charlie

 

[Biggles]

Canada probably has a trade embargo or huge import tariff on anything going into Canada from the US of A!!!!!

 

[happyrat1]

Actually it depends on the manufacturer and their distribution agreements in Canada.

A lot of them have to guarantee exclusivity to the local mafia to sell their crap in this country.

On the other hand, i did buy my Ferrofish B4000+ from B&H at a good price so not every manufacturer has the same arrangement.

Cross border shipping is generally determined on an item by item basis and all the other big American vendors have to adhere to the same rules. Occasionally you find one who will ship what others won't. In those cases they are either willfully breaking the rules or else they are simply ignorant of the facts.

The stupidest part though, is that if you jump in the car and drive 100 miles south you can pretty much buy and import whatever the hell you want.

Gary

 

[happyrat1]

One other thing to consider, however, is warranty.

Buying an American 'grey market" item can be risky.

First off, if the item is DOA when you receive it you generally have to eat the return shipping costs out of your own pocket and you have to fill out the appropriate customs declarations.

Secondly, when you purchase an American item in Canada it may or may not be covered by the manufacturer's warranty. A lot of times if you buy an expensive laptop or keyboard in the US and import it yourself into Canada, the Canadian Authorized Distributors will not honor an American warranty, leaving you standing in crap outside the door.

So the moral of the story is Caveat Emptor.

It's OK to buy stuff in the states and import it yourself but be aware of the limitations of such a purchase...

To be honest Charlie, most of the complaints I've heard from you involve the hassles of being a Canadian. That's the price we pay for living in a country with free health care and gun control. Canada, Love it or Leave it...


Gary

 

[Biggles]

To add to Garys, the joy of being Canadian comments ........ be thankful you live in Canada, we have free healthcare in the UK, but get taken into one of our A and E depatments via an Ambulance and you could die on the trolley waiting to be seen, Ambulances are queued up waiting to offload patients, there are no spare beds.

Grandaughter fell in the schoolyard and as there is no A and E in the Town hospital the GP staff there gave her a sling and said comback 4 days later, she had dislocated her shoulder and broken her collar bone.

Our 87 year old neighbour collapsed in their home and it took an Ambulance 3 hours plus to get to him.

Canada looks pretty good to me.

 

[happyrat1]

Canadian healthcare is not perfect. We have our share of horror stories as well. There's a chronic shortage of beds and people have been known to die in a hallway or Emergency Room waiting to see a doctor, but those are isolated cases and we're doing our best to improve those cases where we can.

There's absoluteley no acceptable excuse for how they treated your grandaughter or your 87 year old neighbour however. A 3 hour wait for an ambulance is totally unacceptable unless it's an air ambulance and you're somewhere 1000 miles north up in the bush.

And as for a GP who treats a dislocated shoulder and a broken collarbone on a chile with a lousy sling? The man should be drummed out of the profession

Gary